India at World Wrestling Championships 2025 review: Antim Panghal’s bronze highlights mixed show in Zagreb

Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat and Worlds bronze medallist Antim Panghal were expected to hit the headlines at this year’s World Wrestling Championships in Zagreb. They did so in contrasting ways.

Third-seeded Aman’s shocking forfeiture for being overweight in men’s 57kg freestyle brought embarrassment to the country. Antim, however, redeemed some pride with a lone bronze medal in women’s 53kg.

The Aman episode was reminiscent of the Vinesh Phogat fiasco at the Paris Olympics a year ago. Vinesh, who stunned World and Olympic champion Yui Susaki on the opening day of her competition on her way to the 50kg final, was overweight and declared ineligible for the title clash on day two. It practically cost India a medal.

While Vinesh ended up on the wrong side of a gamble she had taken by making a drastic weight cut to compete in 50kg, Aman overshooting the weight limit in his regular category by 1.7kg even before the start of competition was inexplicable.

Despite claims that Aman was unwell, which prevented him from cutting weight, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh was unhappy with the development.

“Aman pulled out as he could not reduce his weight enough. He is an experienced wrestler and was a witness to a similar embarrassment (due to Vinesh’s overweight issue) at the Paris Olympics. It seems he has not learnt anything from that episode,” said Sanjay.

“Both the wrestler (Aman) and the support staff, who were assisting him, were responsible for this. Strict action will be taken against both. They have wasted a lot of Government money, which was spent on the (15-day) preparatory camp abroad.”

This was the third such instance in about a year. Promising wrestler Neha Sangwan (59kg) was ineligible to compete at the World Under-20 Championships in August and was banned for two years by the WFI for negligence in managing her weight.

The recurrence of such embarrassing episodes has prompted the WFI to consider a policy to tackle such issues. It is learnt that women’s head coach Virender Dahiya, who was in Zagreb, has recommended scrapping the 2kg relaxation during trials so that wrestlers strictly adhere to their respective weight categories.

Other Indian freestyle wrestlers also failed to make an impact. Twenty-year-old Mukul Dahiya (86kg) came closest to a medal but lost 0-10 to two-time World champion Iranian Kamran Ghasempur in the bronze medal bout.

Trying to re-establish himself in 92kg, Deepak Punia, a former Worlds silver medallist in 86kg, won one bout but lost the next. Vicky (97kg) also put up some good performances before facing reversal in the repechage.

The promising Sujeet Kalkal (65kg), a Hungary Ranking Series gold medallist, fought well but narrowly lost 5-6 to Olympic silver medallist and eventual champion Rahman Amouzadkhalili of Iran in the quarterfinals. He eventually bowed out in the repechage.

Antim saved India the blushes. The young wrestler — who underperformed at the Paris Olympics and was deported on disciplinary grounds after her sister used her accreditation card to enter the Olympic Village — recovered from that ignominious episode to refocus on her game and land a bronze. This was her second successive Worlds bronze (considering that the 2024 World Championships only had competitions in non-Olympic weights). With it, she joined Vinesh as the most decorated Indian female wrestlers at the Worlds.

The fourth-seeded 21-year-old steamrolled Spain’s World junior silver medallist Carla Jaume Soler 10-0 in the pre-quarterfinals and beat China’s 55kg Worlds silver medallist Zhang Jin 9-8 in the quarterfinals, before going down 3-5 to World No.1 and Paris Olympics silver medallist Lucia Yepez Guzman.

Antim then beat another Paris Olympian, Emma Jonna Malmgren, 9-1 in the bronze medal match and etched her name among the all-time great Indian women wrestlers. Her tears reflected her regret at a missed opportunity in Paris — a lesson that should make her wiser.

Asian champion Manisha Bhanwala (62kg), who entered the repechage, could not rise to the occasion.

For the women’s team, mostly comprising youngsters – World U-20 champion Tapsya Gahlawat (57kg) and Priya Malik (another World U-20 medallist who lost to Olympic medallist Cuban Milaimy Marin Potrille in a 76kg bronze medal match) – the Zagreb exposure was valuable ahead of important assignments, including the 2026 Asian Games and 2028 Olympics.

There was little hope from the Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers. Asian bronze medallist Nitesh (97kg) and Aman (77kg) had outside chances as they reached the repechage rounds.

Nineteen-year-old Worlds U-20 bronze medallist Suraj (60kg) upset former World champion and Olympian Victor Ciobanu of Moldova 3-1 to underline his talent.

With the uncertainty and chaos surrounding wrestling administration finally ending earlier this year, the WFI and the wrestlers should learn their lessons from the below-par Zagreb outing and prepare to deliver an improved performance at the Asian Games in a year’s time.

Published on Sep 22, 2025